Hmm, interesting. Thanks for your expertise, guys. I picked up a Luke and Leia speeder bike set, and I was toying with maybe getting the biker scout set. Might just save my money and just get a regular biker scout for now though, and let them take turns with the bike.

Haha, were you building an army of biker scouts at some point? I've got a tentative deal for series 7 (the one w/ the biker scout) in the works; if that falls through I'll let you know. One is all I need.

I'm in the UK & although I'm just a lurker I buy most of my stuff from the US,Japan & HK/China. Whether my opinion is worth anything being a newbie & all but you should also consider 'HM Customs' who often tend to charge import duty on high cost 'declared' items from the US yet tend to turn a blind eye to virtually everything I buy from HK/China & Japan. Until you get stung you tend to dismiss this as 'happening to someone else' but can often add up to a fair sum of money. Just saying.

I think you'll find that's because the Asian sellers lie on the customs form where as US sellars often don't.

Often don't? Sometimes do ?

Does the import of kubricks into the US from Japan attract US import duty?

I don't know about the process for retailers/distributers, and I don't recall if "gift" was selected or not, but I've never had to pay a customs fee for any package received from another country containing toys/collectibles.

I prefer to buy things directly from the east nowadays. In contrary to the dollar, most people at the office have no clue what the exchange rate is of the yen and simply not bother. If your package gets singled out by the customs officer expect to pay tax + pay a handling fee + wait 1 to 2 weeks longer. On low values that handling fee can be a real joy killer. Example:Toys €41Shipping €13Tax €10.26Handling Fee €12.50Total increase in price €22.76 / €54 = 42%

A tactic for buying from US retailers is to get them to send the items to a friend's address in the US. The 'friend' is not committing any fraudulent act as he/she is under no obligation to know the value of the 'gift' that he/she is sending subsequently to the UK .

Karamazov80 .......now where have I seen that name before? Aren't you the Cosbaby fan?

To answer your question ........first realise that regards English language conventions ,British English is fundamentally different to American English. The use of the double inverted commas ,"" ,are, for example ,used in both quotation & speech displays in American English whereas in British English they are (or should be) used in speech displays only . Whilst that is not absolutely relevant to your question it is of course essential to emphasise that the notation of each of our languages in their respective written forms may differ. My use of the single inverted commas ,in this instance the word 'friend' ,is another convention known as 'scare quote' which is simply a way of using a word although distancing oneself from its dictionary/thesaurus definition by placing the word within single inverted commas. I used the word friend in such a manner to emphasise that the person sending the items is obviously a friend although in the eyes of the customs authorities he is an anonymous sender of items & not a retailer or an accomplice. Check this out ......especially the last 3 words which undoubtedly refer to me http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node31.html

Hello - I am relatively new to this Kubrick collecting. But quite addicted already. I recently got a Series 6 - Luke Skywalker in X-Wing Fighter Gear. He came in a sealed bag with the box. He looks great. But one of his arms is quite loose/floppy. Is this something that happens from time to time or does it mean it was damaged or is flawed in some way?